30 SEPTEMBER 2019ÇPlane&Pilot
❯ ❯“We had been in the air
around 30 minutes when my wife
and I felt the engine shudder.
Hmm, what was that? Must have
been a slight chop from forecast
turbulence, we thought.”“M
ayday, mayday...”
I guess no pilot expects to utter
those words, but on this warm and
sunny November day the words,
unfortunately, were quite appropriate.
My wife, two daughters and I got up bright and
early one Saturday morning for our vacation to
Orlando, to be followed by a week in Disney World.
A storm had passed through the previous evening
and left a clear sky across our proposed route from
Hanover County (FOSF) to Kissimmee (KISM) with a
lunch stop in Savannah, Georgia (KSAV).
It was fairly breezy on the ground and winds at
altitude were anywhere from 30-40 knots on the
nose, so we were in for a longer day than originally
thought. We packed up 86DR, our Bellanca Super
Viking aff ectionately known as Romeo, and were
on our way. Th e leg to SAV was a nice, uneventful
fl ight. Th e best part of the fl ight was having to
throttle back to stay behind a Mooney over North
Carolina! We weren’t in any big hurry, so we
just relaxed.
We had our sumptuous lunch at the FBO in
SAV, topped off the wing tanks and prefl ighted
the plane. Oil was around 9½ quarts, so we
were good to go. Taxied to the run-up area
and ran through the checklist. Everything was
fi ne—gauges in the green.
We got our clearance and took off around 1:20
p.m., then headed on to Orlando with routing over
Brunswick, Georgia. We had been in the air around
30 minutes when my wife and I felt the engine
shudder. Hmm, what was that? Must have been a
slight chop from forecast turbulence, we thought. I
checked the instruments—still in the green.
A couple minutes later—or sooner, I don’t recall
exact times—I notice oil pressure had gone to zero.Engine Out,
Nowhere To Land
By Dave St. Clair
ABOUT FLYING (AND ABOUT LIFE)GABR
IELCAMPANAR
IOWas it a bad gauge? Nope.